Maurice works to mitigate flurry of water line breaks in wake of thaw

As Acadiana thaws out from this week's arctic blast, some communities are still feeling the effects. Water boil advisories are in effect and other communities are ordering customers to conserve their water.

In the village of Maurice-- the cleanup is underway.

Electrician and repairman, Leroy Carter, helped a friend who had three inches of water in his business. The leak was one of at least 15 water lines that broke in the village of Maurice during the thaw.

"What we have here is a customer supply valve and back there is Maurice city water. This valve here has to be replaced, and this valve supplies water to my buddy’s business," explained Carter

Mayor Wayne Theriot sent out a request via mass email to anyone who has a leak.

"We’re just asking if the citizens or the businesses do see it, that they do turn off their water. Either the customer service valve, or if they can't have accessibility to that, or if they can't find it, let us know, and we'll cut it off at the meter," explained Mayor Theriot

Residents and business owners can turn off their customer supply valve, which is located usually feet away from the city meter, and typically housed under plastic covering.

If they can't find the customer service line, City Hall will send someone to cut off their water via the city meter.

"All the meters are locked, and it takes a special tool for us to turn it off on the city side," explained Mayor Theriot

The Mayor is also asking that if residents notice pooling water outside of a business or home, that people call City Hall at (337) 893-6406. Mayor Theriot says that if too many water leaks occur around the community it could negatively impact Maurice’s water system.

He says it could decrease the overall system’s pressure, which could potentially result in the fire department not being able to use water to combat a structure fire.

As the weekend inches closer and closer the eyes remain down toward the tropics as we wait to see what this disturbed region in the Gulf of Mexico will end up doing the next few days. Chances for further development have increased to an 80% over the next five days.

As the weekend inches closer and closer the eyes remain down toward the tropics as we wait to see what this disturbed region in the Gulf of Mexico will end up doing the next few days. Chances for further development have increased to an 80% over the next five days.